Ok now that I have been going to the gym for the last 3 weeks 4 days a week pretty much. I have been watching other people work out and I notice a huge difference in styles.

Some lift large ammounts of weights with just a few reps/sets and some do lots of reps with varing sets. Some lift/push/pull the weights very fast paced and some do them very slow.

I am currently trying to lose weight with the advice of a few others I have been operating around 5 sets of 15 reps with moderate wieght never to failure.

When I am lifting I am doing them slow and easy, not jerking them fast and furious like I see some people do. I try to feel my muscles working as I do them and try not to allow my other body parts to **pull or Leverage** the weights making that body part do most of the work.

When I get to my 4/5th set I usually am feeling my muscles burn which I guess is a good indicator.

I guess my question is, am I lifting weights correctly? I have heard some stuff about negative lifting and stuff like that and I am still learning.

Also, I am using mostly cable type machines and not to much free weights (barbell bicept curls and squats are only ones I dont use Machines), I am doing it this way because I felt very unbalanced doing them with free weights (especially using the dumbells).

Any bad points to this?

Any help would be great!!

You basically outlined the worst way to train(except for keeping form)

Myth 1: high reps do not give definition

Myth 2: The burn is not a good indicator of a good workout, it simply signifies lactic acid buildup, probably because you use such high reps.

Myth 3: Free weights are much better than machines. The whole point of free weights is that you have to stabilise the weight yourself, that is why it is so much harder.


I would advise you find yourself a good split. Work in a lower rep range(max 12) and start using free weights more. Machines are ok, but use free weights a majority of the time.

Read here for a good split

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.p...threadid=289834

The best thing you can do is learn all you can and try different workouts. Try different speeds and reps short of horrible form. For example I used to workout one bodypart a week say for instance 6 sets for triceps. Now I am doing 3 sets for triceps twice a week to try and stimulate growth twice a week. I'm still doing 6 sets I just split it up. Another example is I used to be big into powerlifting type workouts where the rep count was never that high. I decided to try a 20 rep squat routine because of a bad back and to my suprise as I increased my reps without even going heavier my lower rep squats shot up more than ever. I guess the moral of the story is try different strategies.

There is nothing wrong with machines, if you're after hypertrophy.

Are you a man or a woman (seriously)??

Stop doing 15 reps for every set. I'd advise you to work in the 4-8 rep range for your upper body, and 8-15 reps for the lower body movements. Lift at whatever pace you like, but dont go very slowly. I wouldnt, at this point, tell you to count you rep speed.

Hehe I am a Man!!!

Thanks for the advice, I see this is about as 2 sided as it is when I watch people lift in the gym. I guess everyone has a right and wrong way of lifting.

I am going to try 3 sets of 10 reps tommorow and see how it goes instead of my normal 5 sets x 15 reps. Which means I am going to have to lift heavier weights.

And what do you mean by machines are ok if you are going for hypertrophy? Sorry I dunno what this is I am obviously still da noob around here trying to learn more each day.

I am 34 MALE (Like strools on the beach and hottubs hehe JK) ahhmmmm I am trying to lose weight but I want to keep the muscle mass I have already. I am 6ft and 255pounds (Was 271pounds 3 weeks ago).

Dont lift slow? can ya give me reasons for not doing this? I dunno why I have been doing it I guess I just like the feel of my muscles working when I am doing them. Should I just be more concerned about pumping out my 10 Reps and resting for a short period and pumping out the next set.

Intrigued! Your answer to the OP would be different depending on the answer?




JNJAX, you don't need to apologise for asking q's around here Hypertrophy is growth of the muscle; I think what TK was saying is that using machines can indeed stimulate size increases, and are fine for you at this stage.

You're right, it's like anything in this game - many opinions, and few definitives (esp. in terms of training programs), but in general you'll find most people recommend free weights over machines. As you know, form is KEY when using free weights, is there a reputable trainer at your place - I don't just mean accredited, but someone with a good rep, that looks like they know their stuff (maybe talk to some clients)? It may be worth your while spending some time with him a little further down the line, learning the correct form as you move from machines to free weights. Small investment up front, big paypack down the line.

If he were a woman, I probably wouldnt have advocated--given that I perceive him to be a relative newbie--that he work in the very low (3-4) rep range.

Thanks Novo and Tk,

Well I tried changing from 5 set x 15 reps to 3 sets x 10 reps yesterday for my pull day and here is what I noticed.

A) I increased my weight on each lift (except 1) by 30 to 40 pounds.

My muscle's were pumped up , I mean they felt HUGE. Where as before they felt hard. Does that make sense?

C) The time it took me to do my workout obviously was MUCH shorter. Usually it took me around 1 hour to 1.5 hours to do my workout where as it took me 35mins to do it this time.

D) My muscles were a lil sore this morning where as before they werent the day after. Maybe this is just from the extra weight ?

E) I dunno but I dont think I felt like I had a good sweat type workout like I did with more reps.

I am going to do my part 2 of my training tonight the same way (Push day) we shall see how I fair in increasing the weights by 30-40.

P.S. I think once I can actually see through my fat, I will invest in a trainer. The ones that are at my Gym seem pretty nice and some give me tips and advice sometimes (Errr dunno if they are trainers they are the people who run Power House Gym that I go to.)

Glad to hear this has helped.

Now stay the course for awhile, and enjoy the progress.

Forget the trainer, IMO

if we are talking about the speed of your lift, it should be "1" up on your contraction stage and "2" down on your negative stage of the lift. 1:2 ratio/time should be used with all lifts you do.

Let me ask, have you incorporated cardio into your workout program?

You've never done a heavy deadlift, have you?

I think speed would be entirely dependent on the type of training you're doing.

Chupacbara sorta nailed it.

1-2 up, 3 down is not uncommon for compound lifts...

not alot really 15 mins here and there up until this week now on my off days I am doing 1hr of Cardio.

Most of the time I will use an explosive concentric and take it down under control. I've always though tempo (as long as you aren't risking injury lifting retarded) is somewhat overrated. But I had a question about something I had read. What about fast and slow in the same set? Does anyone have any thoughts on CTs tempo contrast method:
reps 1-2 & 5-6 with a 604 tempo
reps 3-4 & 7-8 explosive

And before anyone bitches at me this may not even be CTs own creation, it was just the first place I saw it